Hazelnut
by Kuraii Koneko
Summary: AU. When Riku's girlfriend storms out he realizes this is his big chance to get back at his - now - ex and his family, just in time for the holidays. So naturally he picks up his waiter to play the part of his lover. Soiku
1. Prologue

**Hazelnut**

_Prologue_

--

Sunlight bounced dizzyingly against every wall in the room. Riku squinted against the atrociously bright light towards the murky outline of his girlfriend. She stood holding the drapes haughtily, daring him to reprimand her for yanking them back and waking him in the most painful way. Wisely, he kept his mouth shut.

"And when," she spat, "did you plan on telling me?"

Riku sighed, propping himself up on one elbow. He ignored the silk sheet as it fell, pooling around his bare waist. "Tell you what?"

"Tell me that your family is planning on coming for Christmas!" She snapped, heels clicking against the tile floor as she moved to his side and, in a less than loving gesture, thrust a card beneath his nose.

The silver-haired man snatched the card away from the manicured hand with annoyance and held it away from his face to read.

_It has been quite some time since our last correspondence. You are doing well, I am certain, as you have not called recently in need of something. For this very reason your brother and I shall be visiting you for Christmas. In fact, we hope to stay all Christmas week and will be arriving at 7 p.m. next Monday. It will be unnecessary to pick us up; we have arranged for our own transportation._

_We shall be seeing each other soon enough. Try not to do anything too stupid before we arrive._

_Sephiroth  
Cloud_

Riku stared blankly at the card. Well hell, he thought absently, there would be no weaseling out of this one.

"When did this arrive?" he inquired with a frown. His girlfriend scowled down at him, her hands braced on her hips.

"And how should I know?!" she demanded huffily. "I'm not your goddamn maid, Riku. I refuse to stay if they are coming; you know they hate me."

True enough, Riku thought with an inward laugh. "Well, there isn't any way to keep them from coming. You'll just have to deal with it."

Uh oh, wrong thing to say. Her face completely bypassed red, becoming an unseemly purple color as she quivered with rage.

"Deal with it? DEAL WITH IT?!" she screeched, grabbing his alarm clock and heaving it across the room. The plug gave an annoyed buzz as it was ripped violently from its socket and emitted a small flash of electricity. Then there was a loud bang. A rather large dent marred one of the walls, courtesy of the alarm clock and angry girlfriend. "NO, Riku, I'm done DEALING WITH IT. Find yourself a new girlfriend!"

She stormed from the room, slamming his bedroom door shut with a mighty heave. Sounds of her wreaking havoc on the rest of his house slipped into the room through the crack between the door and the tile.

Riku glanced at the place his alarm clock had once sat on the stand next to his bed, then at the open window. With a resigned grunt, he fell backwards onto his bed, rubbing his elbows absently. A quick roll turned him over, and with his face buried in a large down pillow, Riku slipped right back into sleep.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** No, believe it or not I'm not dead. I wanted to do a cute little Christmas special, and here is the prologue! Not long, but I promise each chapter will grow until they're decent sized. PROMISE.  
That aside, I'd like to thank Katraa for inspiring me and being absolutely hilarious and Raye-chan for being the most amazing beta I could ever ask for.

**Disclaimer:**Don't own, will never own, blahblahblah.


	2. Chapter One

**Hazelnut**

_Chapter One_

--

Only one more day before they would arrive. Only one more day before his overbearing father and quiet brother would arrive and turn his world upside down for an entire week.

Riku almost felt sick just thinking about them in his house, touching his things. Briskly he strode down the street, pulling his coat more tightly around himself to block against the winter chill. The overcast sky suggested ominously that there was quite possibly snow in the not too distant future. And a lot of it.

He wasn't sure what made him pause, but he did, turning to look at the small little café across the street. He'd never visited it before, it wasn't Starbucks after all, and who knew what they served in little hole-in-the-wall cafés?

But it looked so warm, glowing faintly from within due to the crème colored walls he could see clearly from the wide windows. A small chalkboard was set up outside the door, listing the daily specials in various colored chalk and handwriting.

A single snowflake floated down in Riku's line of vision, and without another thought he crossed the street. The door opened easily with the gentle ringing of a bell. "Welcome!" Called a cheerful girl from behind a long counter. "Sit where you like!"

The smell of coffee and hazelnut soothed the frantic racing of his mind and leisurely Riku moved towards the small booth next to the window he had looked in through. This place was truly one of a kind he realized as he looked around, the interior far larger than the exterior suggested, and colored in muted shades of tan, dark greens and browns. Of course, in keeping with the season, the shop was decorated with large red bows, gold bells, and tinsel.

Riku glanced outside the window, which he now realized had been also decorated with white and images of reindeer, trees, even a jolly red Santa in one corner, enjoying a steaming mug of something. Someone clearly had a little too much free time.

With an amused smile, he allowed his gaze to wander around the café, taking note of a lone old lady sitting in a corner and a young couple happily chatting away. Couple. Which he would be a part of had his girlfriend not stormed out last weekend. The downside being that Cloud had called recently and Riku had alluded that he had a lover and he had long since kicked his girlfriend to the curb.

A lover that, at the moment, didn't exist.

"Welcome," a soft voice pulled Riku out of his idle thoughts, "I'm Sora and I'll be your server today. What will you be having?"

Slowly three things dawned on Riku. First, was that the voice belonged to a slender boy – young man? – with vivid blue eyes that reminded him distinctly of Cloud's eyes. Second was that he had yet to even glance at the menu carefully arranged right in front of him. Third, and most importantly, was that he should pick up someone to play his lover. And soon.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I haven't decided yet." Riku smiled brilliantly at his server, Sora, who in turn colored a light shade of red and returned the smile hesitantly.

"It's all right. Just wave me over when you do." With a quick bob of his head, Sora had turned and was off, attending to the couple in a nearby booth.

It took the silver-haired male five minutes before he was ready to place his order. One minute to scan the menu and decide, four to discreetly check out Sora. The boy was cheerful and full of life, laughing with customers as he took and delivered their orders. His vibrant cerulean eyes sparkled as he bounced from table to table, and cinnamon colored hair looked ridiculously soft. If Riku hadn't been studying the waiter closely – all right, very closely – he might never have noticed the faded threadbare quality of the boy's collared shirt or the frayed hems of his too-small dress slacks. Not that Riku minded the size of Sora's pants. He rather liked them very much.

In fact, Riku caught himself all but leaning out of his booth as Sora leaned over to pick up a slip of paper the elderly woman had dropped and found he wasn't disappointed by the sight.

He waved Sora over.

"Decided?" The brunet queried, pulling out a small notebook and pen to record the order. Riku nodded.

"A hazelnut hot chocolate, French toast, and a slice of pumpkin pie." Sora grinned, leaning forward confidentially.

"Good choice," he whispered, and Riku found himself leaning in involuntarily. "The french toast was just made, and the pumpkin pie was baked fresh this morning by yours truly."

Riku allowed a smile to curl the corners of his lips upwards, and watched as, with a soft laugh and a wink, the brunet was off headed towards the petite black-haired girl who had called out to Riku when he had first arrived to place the order.

In no time at all his hot chocolate was before him, steaming pleasantly, and he was informed that his order would be out shortly. Riku allowed himself to relax in the smooth upholstery, sipping his hot beverage very slowly to avoid burning his tongue. He had expected a somewhat decent hot chocolate, but the explosion of pure hazelnut smoothly blended with rich chocolate caught him off guard.

Sora returned, looking amused. "Like it?" With ease he slid both of Riku's plates in front of the silver-haired man. Riku nodded, watching as Sora danced along with some nameless Christmas tune all the way to another table.

Quietly he placed the mug down, almost unwilling to part with it, and grasping his fork dug into the sugary meal. The french toast he found was incredibly rich, saturated with syrup and sprinkled with powdered sugar. His own french toast had never been so thick and Riku found himself curious as to how it was made. The pumpkin pie was even better, sprinkled with cinnamon – something Riku would have never have added on his own but he found surprisingly delicious – and adorned with a sizable dollop of whipped cream.

Overall, Riku had to say it was one of the most unhealthy meals he had had in a long time. It was also one of the most delicious.

Sora whisked away the plates as soon has he had finished with them, and Riku was left slouching in the booth more content than he could remember feeling in a long time. The brunet bounced by as soon as the couple left.

"Any thing else I can do for you?" He asked cheerfully, "Need more hot chocolate?"

Riku gestured to the empty space across from him, signaling for Sora to sit. Hesitantly Sora looked around the café, which he realized was entirely empty, and then shot the girl behind the counter a questioning look.

She giggled and waved in a shooing motion, plopping onto a stool and grabbing a book. She began to read with an intensity that Riku felt was faked. Mostly due to the fact that the book was upside down.

But, at least she was attempting to give them some privacy. Even if it was somewhat obvious that she intended to try to overhear everything.

Sora slid into the booth with a kind of backwards grace that threw Riku off for a moment. Then he sipped his hot chocolate, trying to sort his thoughts into coherent sentences.

"Sora, I have a favor to ask of you." Riku began quietly. Sora immediately looked somewhat wary, and Riku couldn't say he blamed the guy.

"My girlfriend kind of stormed out of my house very angry on Sunday. She didn't want to see my family come by for a week, and I told her that she would just have to deal with it. She had a fit and, as I said, left. I suppose that makes her my ex…"

The brunet's expression had gained a look of polite interest but his fingers tapped restlessly against the wooden tabletop. Riku could almost hear the _okay, so?_

"Well, my brother called yesterday to see how things were going and to politely remind me that they were coming and that fleeing the country was not an option." Riku chuckled humorlessly, and found himself graced with a small smile of Sora's own. "I may have… led him to believe that I had a lover."

Sora blinked. "Okay?"

"Well," Riku hesitated, "I don't exactly have a lover. And I don't have the means of producing said mythical lover by tomorrow."

Sora's eyebrow rose. "Well this does sound like a fantastic problem, but I still don't see what I can do to help."

Riku licked his lips, a nervous habit, and stared at Sora with open frankness. He hoped the brunet wouldn't be too angry with him. "I want to ask you if you would stay with me and pretend to be my lover for a week."

Well. At least Sora didn't jump up and run away as fast as he could manage.

"Wait a second…" Sora said slowly, "I thought you had a girlfriend."

"Yeah," Riku shrugged.

"So wouldn't it be strange that your lover is all of a sudden male?" The brunet questioned suspiciously, squinting at Riku.

A devious smirk crossed Riku's face. "Well, that's what they get for announcing their intentions without asking first if their presence would be welcomed, isn't it?"

Sora frowned. Obviously the idea of getting back a family did not sit well with him; but Riku, having known nothing else but these dysfunctional family dealings, could not find fault in his own logic. Instead he offered the only incentive he could to the brunet. "I can pay you for your time, since you would be missing so much of work."

The hesitation was apparent as morals and money warred within the slender young man, and Riku sat back to watch the conflict of interests play across the boy's face. For a minute they sat in silence before Sora broke it.

"Why me?"

This made Riku pause, and he considered his words carefully. "I don't associate much with people. I don't have friends I can call on for a favor. And you seem like the kind of person who would help someone; and who needs the money."

The brunet stayed silent for what felt like an eternity, although looking back it couldn't have been more than five minutes.

"I don't even know your name." It was a weak argument, and they both knew it. Riku gave the waiter a small smile.

"My name is Riku Shinomura."

There was another brief pause.

"All right," Sora agreed quietly, and Riku gave the boy a mildly confused look. He had expected a little more suspicion, a little more hesitation. "What will I need to do?"

Exhaling a long string of air in relief, Riku sat up, pulling off a more professional air. "Well," Riku began slowly, "you'll need to stay at my house. Preferably starting tonight that way it can look more natural tomorrow when my family arrives… you'll be staying until Friday when they leave of course."

Then they began to argue over the sum Sora would be paid. The brunet had calculated in his head the days he would be missing work and his wages per hour (plus tips, he claimed), and had come up with a sum far higher than Riku was willing to part with. They bartered for a few minutes before settling on an amount that was still a little higher than Riku felt comfortable with, but was far more reasonable than Sora's first asking price.

Sora nodded slowly to himself at the end of their exchange while Riku looked on, amused. "Okay. Hang on, I need to go clear my time off with Yuffie."

The spiky-haired boy slid from the booth and moved to talk in hushed tones with the girl at the counter. She looked both scandalized and excited, barely keeping her voice low enough to where Riku couldn't overhear what was being said. Sora straightened and offering the girl – Yuffie – a secretive smile, joined Riku once more.

"I'm ready to leave whenever you are," Sora murmured quietly.

The pair left, remarking offhandedly about the snow before falling into an almost awkward silence. It was lucky that his house wasn't too far away, Riku reflected, and that the silence didn't have a chance to stretch on for an unbearable length of time.

"Wow," Sora murmured in awe, staring up at the grand house. Riku chuckled, no longer affected by the impressive height or the charming colonial structure, and he unlocked the antique maple door and held it open for Sora to pass through.

"It's been in my family for generations," Riku explained as he entered into the foyer behind Sora, "My great great great grandfather or something built it as a wedding present for his wife."

"One man built this all by himself?" Sora asked, wide-eyed as he surveyed the crystal chandelier hanging overhead, the crystal catching the light from the light bulb within and sending dizzying rainbows of color onto every available surface.

"That's what we're told." Riku shrugged lightly, "But I'm sure he had to have had help somewhere along the way."

Sora turned to survey the taller man with a mysterious smile. "You never know Riku, crazier things have happened."

Riku gave Sora an indulging nod before steering him throughout the house. He pointed out the kitchen, dining room, noted bathrooms, and Riku's own room.

Sora, it should be noted, was delighted the most about the spiral staircase.

"There is also a pool and garden in the back, but I doubt with this weather there will be any use for either." Riku concluded the tour back in the kitchen with a gesture at the patio door. Sora peered out through the blinds at the grounds, which were rapidly turning a soft white.

"Riku?" Luminous cerulean eyes fixed on the silver-haired man after taking in a much of the landscape as they could, "Could I use the phone for a minute to call my mother?"

Riku made a noncommittal noise and Sora scooped up the phone from it's cradle. Idly, Riku moved towards the refrigerator and began rummaging through the contents. He came up rather dissatisfied with his findings.

He would have to go to the store to get quite a few things. There was almost nothing that could be used for the upcoming week, and what little he had wouldn't even last through tomorrow evening.

On a notepad Riku began writing down a list products that would need to be picked up. He felt Sora approach from behind and peer over his shoulder curiously. A smile curled Riku's lips upward as he pictured the smaller brunet standing on the tips of his toes to see.

Quickly he turned and Sora, caught off guard, stumbled forward. Sure enough, Riku had been right.

"What's that?" The brunet asked, pointing at the list.

"That, Sora, will either make or break us this week. We have a lot to do."


	3. Chapter Two

**Hazelnut**

_Chapter Two_

--

It had been incredibly awkward at first, standing around in such a large foreign kitchen and trying to figure out where everything had been stored the night before when the pair had returned from grocery shopping. And it was even more awkward to command the actual owner of the kitchen.

But, Sora knew his way around a kitchen better than Riku did and that was just something the silver-haired man was just going to have to accept. (Which he did, albeit somewhat reluctantly.)

"Is the water boiling yet?" Sora called over his shoulder, not bothering to look away from the pie crust he was unwrapping.

"No," was the cross reply. The brunet smiled to himself.

"Well if you need something to do, could you please start mixing the stuffing? The instructions are next to the ingredients, but I haven't been able to get to them yet."

Riku grunted, but shuffled – however reluctantly – over to the ingredients to begin following the instructions written down in cramped, hurried script.

"Remind me why we are making all of this today?" Riku asked, sounding desperately tired and more than a little exasperated.

Sora hummed lightly to himself. "Because I need to make sure that all my recipes are still fully functional so I can fix them before Christmas dinner itself if I need to. I haven't made these dishes in a year, and I'm not feeling good about doing them by myself either."

Riku shot Sora a dirty look that the brunet missed as he bent to make sure he had measured the exact amount of something clear and as slow moving as molasses.

"You're cooking steak for Christmas?"

Sora favored Riku with an amused and indulgent look. "Of course not. That will be the main course tonight. I don't want to use up all my recipes before Christmas, then there would be nothing new for dinner. We're only perfecting the side dishes and dessert. I'm absolutely confident about the main dish."

A silver eyebrow rose.

"And what would that be?"

Sora wagged a disapproving finger at Riku. "Tsk tsk. That'll be a surprise."

Aquamarine eyes rolled in exasperation. Already Riku found himself second-guessing his decision to have Sora pretend to be his lover for the holiday, and it was only the first actual day of the week they would be spending together.

But, even he had to admit that the cheerful brunet was certainly a refreshing change from his whiny and take-out inclined ex-girlfriend.

Until the strains of Christmas music reached his ears, warbling from a nearby never-used radio that his ex had set up one day, claiming it would be used while she did her yoga. Which, Riku was fairly certain she had given up on after one day when she had not instantly become limber.

"Sora," he drawled slowly, "just what is that?"

"What is what?" The brunet asked with a wide-eyed innocent look. Riku was not so easily fooled.

With exaggerated movements Riku pointed at the source of the hated noise. He stared down at the slender man with an aggravated look and was pleased to note that Sora grinned like the Cheshire cat when nervous.

"Ah, well, you see," Sora stumbled over his words, "I didn't really think you'd mind if I turned on some holiday music. I mean, like, to get in the spirit. Yeah! To get in the spirit!" He noticed Riku didn't look particularly cheered by his gesture and began back-peddling quickly. "But if you don't like it, we can turn it off!"

Riku gave a sharp nod before turning back to the stuffing that would burn soon if proper attention was not paid. "See that you do."

Although Sora sulked around the kitchen for about five minutes afterward, Riku remained firmly by his decision and soon enough his "lover" was humming along as if the music were still on anyways.

Riku was dismayed to note that Sora's humming wasn't really altogether any better than the radio had been.

Soon the smell of pumpkin pie and steak filled the kitchen, and Riku was turning off the fire of the stove, stirring the stuffing one final time.

Sora was over almost instantly, having had nothing more to do with the corn already buttered and the steak and pie not requiring any assistance at the moment. With a sly look Sora scooped up a spoonful of the stuffing and shoved in his mouth, pronouncing it fit to eat.

Riku scowled and slapped the brunet's hand away from the stuffing as Sora reached for a second spoonful, who in turn laughed and danced out of Riku's reach.

A smile was creeping up on Riku, but the sharp intrusion of the doorbell pushed it away. Looking much as if Death itself had come knocking Riku straightened up and moved towards the door, opening it without so much as a cursory look through the peephole.

"Father. Cloud."

"Riku," came the simultaneous response from the two other Shinomura. They stepped into the foyer without sparing any more words and silently Riku took their coats before leading the pair to the kitchen.

"Father, Cloud, this is Sora. Sora, this is Cloud and my father Sephiroth." Sora wiped his palms against the thighs of his jeans behind the screening of the counter and moved out of the kitchen to shake hands.

"Pleased to meet you," Sora was doing that nervous grin thing again, although the older Shinomura' took it as excitement, "dinner will be served shortly if you would like to be seated. Can I get either of you something to drink?"

Cloud slid gracefully into a seat alongside the dining table. "Water, please."

Sephiroth, however, remained standing, inspecting his son's lover. Sora twitched, but stayed rooted to the spot despite his fight or flight mode trying desperately to take over.

Once Sora felt thoroughly debauched a single silver eyebrow rose and Sephiroth also gracefully moved to take a seat, although his at the head of the table. "Water, also."

Sora moved to get both waters quickly, setting them before their respective requestors in no time and giving Riku a cup of iced coke. The silver-haired man gave Sora a surprised look, and he could see relief creeping into Riku's expression.

Relief that Sora had remembered what Riku had briefed him on what his favorite things were last night.

Of course he did, Sora thought indignantly, he wasn't a waiter for nothing. A fairly good memory was required for the job, at least, if you wanted to keep it for any length of time.

Soon enough dishes were being set out along the length of the table – Riku and Sora having decided earlier that this arrangement would be safest since everyone could pick what they wanted – and without sparing a single word everyone began to reach for food.

Cloud, surprisingly enough, was the first to breach the silence.

"This is good," the blonde looked over at Sora who flushed and thanked Cloud quietly. Sephiroth watched the sparse conversation with thinly veiled interest.

"You made this?" All eyes snapped to Sephiroth who kept his own gaze firmly set on Sora. The brunet nodded slowly, eyes wide.

"It is… adequate."

Riku snorted quietly and leaned over to whisper in Sora's ear. "That is just about the highest compliment you can get from him."

Sora looked quite pleased with himself if not slightly confused as to why. Was adequate really such high praise? Deciding not to dwell too deeply on the matter Sora brought out the pumpkin pie and a can of whipped cream.

Everyone, after having decided Sora was a safe enough cook, decided on having at least a small slice of the pie. (Riku had informed him earlier that his ex hadn't even been able to cook soup without burning it – how this was even possible, Sora didn't ask – and Riku was certainly not master chef himself)

The peace did not last for long, however. Somehow Sora had known the bubble would burst, though it was not quite in the way he had expected.

"When will you be married?"

Sora gaped at Sephiroth, eyes the size of saucers. A spasm of panic seized him, and the brunet's head whipped to the side to stare down Riku, who had gone completely immobile, fork frozen midway to his mouth.

The piece of pie slid off the fork and dropped with a plop into Riku's lap. He didn't notice.

"I'm sorry Father, I must have heard you wrong. What was the question again?"

"The wedding, Riku," Sephiroth drawled, cat-like eyes gleaming with what seemed to Sora like madness, "when will it be?"

Riku's eye twitched. Sora's leg began to shake on its own.

"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," Riku began slowly. Sora felt hysteria rising in his chest and the urge to giggle like a schoolgirl was overwhelming. "You never questioned me about marriage when I had a girlfriend. What makes you think we are getting married?"

The gleam brightened. Sora bit his lip savagely to keep the giggle down. Sephiroth's cold voice was smooth, "You have never once been serious about girls in general."

Riku's eyebrow rose in disbelief. "_That's_ all the reasoning you have?"

"Since when have you been interested in pursuing your own gender, Riku?" Sephiroth continued as if Riku had never spoken. The man in question twitched faintly.

"Since I had a drunken night of experimenting in tenth grade," Riku returned bluntly, daring his father to argue.

"And yet you have never bothered to date another man."

"No," The return was frosty, "none have particularly caught my eye."

Sephiroth reclined in his chair and observed his son with a self-satisfied smirk. "My point exactly. Now when is the wedding?"

Riku gave Sora a startled look, realizing he had just talking himself into a corner and having no clear idea of what to do next. Luckily for Riku, the argument had quelled Sora's brief hysteria and he cleared his throat just loudly enough to gain the spotlight.

"We haven't really decided," Sora said, mind racing to find a feasible excuse, "I mean, it's a little soon to be thinking about that. Riku had mostly been concerned with me meeting his family first."

"A little soon?" Sephiroth regarded Sora with an almost predatory look. "From what I have heard you two have been intimately acquainted for quite some time now."

Oh hell. Sora shot Riku a dirty look. At least the other man had the grace to look somewhat abashed.

"Father," intervened Cloud quietly. Sora started, having completely forgotten the older brother's existence, "you should let them sort this out on their own."

Sephiroth's lip curled back into a sneer. "No, I don't believe I should. Riku has been wandering without a purpose for long enough. It is time he committed to both the family business and a spouse. Riku, I expect a date in late spring will suffice. When you have worked out all the details I will want to be notified of the actual date with plenty of time in advance."

Without waiting for a reply Sephiroth stood, politely nodded towards Sora in what he assumed to be thanks for the dinner, and strode off to the room Riku had proclaimed as his father's for the duration of his stay.

Cloud too stood, taking both his plate and his father's to the kitchen to rinse off. There was a brief scuffle between Riku and his older brother over who would be washing and Sora would have intervened had the match not been over in less than two minutes.

Cloud won.

Scowling, Riku resigned himself to towel duty.

Sora didn't bother to remind the brothers that there was a perfectly capable washing machine not two feet from them. Instead he handed over his own dish without question, moving to pack up the leftovers and find homes for them in the kitchen.

Cloud looked curiously at the brunet when he overheard him asking Riku where certain kitchen utilities were located for the fourth time.

"I thought you lived here." The blonde stated bluntly, staring at Sora.

Sora blinked. "I do."

"Then why don't you know where everything is by now?" Mako blue eyes narrowed, "Riku implied you two have been together for a while."

Sora floundered around for a moment looking utterly lost. Then, as Riku looked ready to interject, he straightened and looked Cloud squarely in the eye, mustering up every ounce of courage he could find.

"Well, I'll admit, I do know my way around better upstairs. Riku's room in particular."

There was stunned silence from both of the Shinomura brothers, and Sora took the opportunity to wink at Riku and murmur in what he hoped was a coy voice "right honey?"

"Ah, yeah," Riku rasped, sliding an arm around Sora's waist and drawing the smaller man closer. He nuzzled the soft crown of spikes, "that you do."

Never mind that the only reason Sora was intimately familiar with Riku's room was because he had gone on a cleaning spree earlier and the mess had not escaped the brunet's attention.

Face pressed firmly into Riku's chest, Sora could only imagine the look on Cloud's face. He inhaled deeply and snuggled closer, mildly taken aback upon finding himself actually quite comfortable in the Riku's arms.

It was almost like he fit.

Almost like he belonged there.

A deep chuckle brought Sora out of his reverie and he looked wildly around for the source, certain there had been no one but the three of them in the kitchen.

It took Sora a moment to realize it was Cloud.

Deciding that gawking would be utterly impolite, Sora did the only thing he could do in this improbable situation. He gave the blonde a look of such sheer bewilderment that Cloud had to hold his stomach while he began laughing even louder.

It took Cloud a couple of minutes to compose himself.

When he finally quit laughing the blonde merely shot the pair an amused look and shuffled off to his own designated room with a quiet "good night". Riku looked over at Sora, who returned the glance with mutual relief and silently they ascended the staircase. Riku's arm still draped casually abound Sora's shoulders.

The pair reached the door to Riku's rooms and Sora was about to slip away from the rather comforting embrace when the door opened suddenly and Sephiroth appeared.

Riku pulled Sora more tightly to him and stared at his father.

"Why are you in my room?" Riku demanded.

A single eyebrow rose, and while Riku did flinch (Sora could feel it), he did not back down.

"Now Riku," Sephiroth drawled, "is that any way to speak to your father?"

"Why," The younger Shinomura repeated slowly, "are you in my room?"

The older Shinomura lifted his shoulders in what on anyone else would have been considered a shrug. Instead it looked like regal mockery. "I needed a bar of soap."

Sora stared in disbelief at the bar of soap nestled snugly in the large palm as Sephiroth held it out to reinforce his claim. Riku's eye twitched.

"And you needed to come all the way up to my bathroom to get it when the other downstairs bathroom is closer." Riku replied flatly, almost sarcastically.

Sephiroth ignored his son, continuing on as if he had never stopped talking. "I see Sora is having a good influence on you. Your room is far more tidy than I can ever recall it being."

"Thank you," Sora interjected, having felt bad for not speaking up. "I'm glad you think so."

"However," Sephiroth continued, ignoring Sora just as he had his own son, "I have yet to see a single thing belonging to Sora anywhere in that room. How long did you two say you have been together again?"

"A month." Riku shot back – the amount they had agreed upon.

"Hmm," Sephiroth tapped his chin with one long, slender finger. "At Thanksgiving you were still with that girl. I forget her name. You must not have waited, excuse me, grieved your relationship with her too long before the two of you" He gestured vaguely to both Sora and Riku, "Got together."

"She couldn't stand you." True enough. "We had a pretty big fight," well, a pretty big one-sided fight, "And it wasn't too long before I ran into Sora here. The rest, as they say, is history." Well. Wasn't too long before I coerced him into pretending to be my lover for a large sum of money. Same thing, really.

Cat-like jade eyes peered suspiciously at the pair, but Sephiroth said nothing further and instead swept past the two boys as if they were no more significant than a bug.

Sora blinked owlishly after the retreating, and rather imposing, figure of Riku's father.

"Wouldn't be surprised if he stormed into the room in the middle of the night, just to 'check up' on you. Us." Sora muttered with a frown.

Riku nodded absently, still looking after his father with a somewhat thoughtful expression. Then he turned to Sora, that same look never once fading. Sora felt himself fidget unwillingly under such scrutiny.

"We'll have to get you some clothing and things to lay around the house. I had completely forgotten about all that."

Sora shrugged. "I did too. Didn't help that I fell asleep in my clothes last night before I'd even had a chance to think about changing into something to sleep in. And when I woke up, I got to work."

Riku muttered quietly to himself and nudged Sora into his room.

As soon as the door was firmly shut and Sora seated on the edge of the bed the silver-haired man leaned against the door and whipped out his cell-phone, dialing far more quickly than Sora could managed even with the few numbers he did have memorized. Almost immediately Riku was talking in a low murmur.

"Hey. Look, I need a favor. I know. Yes, I will. Okay, I'll need you to go to…" Riku looked over at Sora, who supplied his address without question. If Riku had been surprised by Sora's intuitiveness, he didn't let it show. "And pick up about a week's worth of clothes."

Riku peered at Sora again for a few moments. "Stop by a store and pick up some clothing too. What? Just check the sizes on the tags of the clothes you pick up from his house."

Sora shook his head and a silver eyebrow arched.

"I cut off all the tags," the brunet explained with a sheepish look, "they itch. I'm a size small for shirts and 30 for pants."

Riku blinked. "You're tiny."

Sora scowled at Riku and flung himself further onto the bed, deciding the best retaliation would be to hog as much of the bed and the covers as he could. Maybe, he decided, he could make this as much like a lover's spat as he could and make Riku sleep on the floor.

Pleased, Sora curled himself around a pillow, his eyes slit, and glared at Riku. The youngest Shinomura turned his back to Sora for a moment, muttering some more into the cell phone before snapping it shut and facing Sora. He muffled a laugh.

"Sora, you look like a disgruntled cat."

The scowl deepened. "And you're sleeping on the floor tonight."

Riku snorted. "Don't be ridiculous, that's my bed." But when he noticed Sora did not waver at all in his determination the snort turned into a perplexed frown.

"Really. That's my bed."

"Actually, **darling**, since we're _lovers_ we share it. And typically during a lover's spat, someone has to sleep on the floor. Or the couch. You can go sleep on the couch if you want."

Riku's eye twitched.


End file.
